Some smart fellow has been quietly working on porting the Google Android OS to the iPhone and has caused a lot of excitement after his announcement today.
It is still early days and Android is only running on the original iPhone at present but “planetbeing” has stated that it should be simple to port forward to both the iPhone 3G and 3GS. Performance is somewhat slow according to initial user reports but having said that, the original iPhone hardware is now nearly four years old and comparatively low-powered compared to its successors.
The implications for this development are far reaching. Similar to existing jailbreak solutions, this allows users to install whatever applications they choose (within Android) and poses a threat to Apple’s tight control over the application ecosystem on the iPhone. It also may prove to be an alternate solution to unlocking the phone for use on other carriers. At least in my mind, this clearly demonstrates that people want choice with respect to how they use their devices.
Unfortunately, I don’t have an original iPhone with which to test this development but will keep a close eye out for when a version for iPhone 3GS is released. As you can see in the video, it is usable and can apparently make and receive phone calls along with other basic functionality.
At any rate, Steve Jobs must be having a crappy week. With Gray Powell losing a suspected fourth generation iPhone at a bar and having the story broken by a major tech website, continued delays to the release of the iPad 3G + WiFi and now Android on the iPhone, perhaps this is proof that “magic” and “revolution” can also work the other way if you don’t listen to the masses.
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